Register now to gain access to all of our features. Once registered and logged in, you will be able to contribute to this site by submitting your own content or replying to existing content. You'll be able to customize your profile, receive reputation points as a reward for submitting content, while also communicating with other members via your own private inbox, plus much more! This message will be removed once you have signed in.

pasalaska 3,010

With all the hype for the new albums recently, I thought it’d be fun to go back to Green Day’s humble beginnings and have Song of the Week be Billie’s (reported) first ever song Why Do You Want Him?. While it was originally released in 1990 on the Slappy EP, and later on 1039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, the song was actually written when Billie was just 14 years old.

It’s widely stated amongst us Green Day fans and on various Green Day biographies on the internet that WDYWH? is about Billie’s mother’s relationship with his stepfather, but this is untrue. On the 92Y interview with Michael Mayer (director of American Idiot the Musical), recorded in September of 2010 in New York, Billie stated that the song is in fact about a girl; it’s about “wanting to be with someone and they want to be with somebody else”. The lyrics describe a girl who’s clearly in a broken, possibly even abusive relationship, and while it’s clear to Billie as an outsider that she’s better off without her boyfriend, she’s still with him and wants him. Musically, WDYWH? is classic early Green Day, with simply rhymes, simple guitar with a short solo and Billie’s high vocals harmonised by Mike’s deeper, backup vocals.

Here’s Billie’s hand-written lyrics to Why Do You Want Him?, taken from the enhanced version of 1039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours CD.

This week’s video is from way back in June 1989, filmed at the Davis Community Centre in Davis, CA. The video quality is awful, and the audio’s not great, but it’s a reminder of just how long ago Green Day started, and just how far they’ve come musically.

Share this post

Link to post

Mandy_PunkRock 1,268

"Why do You Want Him?" is one of my favourite songs from 1039/Smoothed our Slappy Hours. The guitar solo is my second favourite after Dry Ice, I love when Billie use bendings and make that bluesy solos. Also this song is special because it was Billie's first song and it shows that he was a good songwriter at his early age.

I've always thought that this song was about Billie's stepfather because I 've always read that in a lot of biographies, now I know that it wasn't.

Share this post

Link to post

TheGrouch33 116

With all the hype for the new albums recently, I thought it’d be fun to go back to Green Day’s humble beginnings and have Song of the Week be Billie’s (reported) first ever song Why Do You Want Him?. While it was originally released in 1990 on the Slappy EP, and later on 1039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, the song was actually written when Billie was just 14 years old.

It’s widely stated amongst us Green Day fans and on various Green Day biographies on the internet that WDYWH? is about Billie’s mother’s relationship with his stepfather, but this is untrue. On the 92Y interview with Michael Mayer (director of American Idiot the Musical), recorded in September of 2010 in New York, Billie stated that the song is in fact about a girl; it’s about “wanting to be with someone and they want to be with somebody else”. The lyrics describe a girl who’s clearly in a broken, possibly even abusive relationship, and while it’s clear to Billie as an outsider that she’s better off without her boyfriend, she’s still with him and wants him. Musically, WDYWH? is classic early Green Day, with simply rhymes, simple guitar with a short solo and Billie’s high vocals harmonised by Mike’s deeper, backup vocals.

Here’s Billie’s hand-written lyrics to Why Do You Want Him?, taken from the enhanced version of 1039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours CD.

This week’s video is from way back in June 1989, filmed at the Davis Community Centre in Davis, CA. The video quality is awful, and the audio’s not great, but it’s a reminder of just how long ago Green Day started, and just how far they’ve come musically.

Share this post

Link to post

CristhyneS 1,095

It’s widely stated amongst us Green Day fans and on various Green Day biographies on the internet that WDYWH? is about Billie’s mother’s relationship with his stepfather, but this is untrue. On the 92Y interview with Michael Mayer (director of American Idiot the Musical), recorded in September of 2010 in New York, Billie stated that the song is in fact about a girl; it’s about “wanting to be with someone and they want to be with somebody else”.

Hey, you learn something new everyday! I didn't know of this interview, so up until this day I thought the song was indeed about his mother and her new boyfriend.

Share this post

Link to post

TheGrouch33 116

Their first gig as Green Day was gilman street, the same day as operation ivy's last (official) gig

loooook

There is some confusion as to what Green Day's first gig was. After the lyrics in the 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours booklet, it says they first played at Rod's Hickory Pitt where Billie Joe's mom worked as a waitress, but during a recent interview Billie Joe said their first gig was in Davis, California with other bands like Nasal Sex and Sewer Trout. Anyway, neither of those were as important as their fourth or fifth show.